TUF Nations Episode 12: ‘There’s a ton of pressure at this point … There are three teammates through and then I’m left’

Nearly seven years after his professional fighting debut, Sheldon Westcott, a 29-year-old from St. Alberta, Alta., is on the brink of achieving his dream and earning a spot on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster.

Each week across the Postmedia News chain, Westcott – normally a welterweight but competing in the middleweight division of the reality-TV competition – will share his thoughts with Postmedia MMA reporter Dave Deibert on the most recent episode of The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs.Australia. Episode 12 aired April 2 …

Three down, me to go. After Team Canada teammate Olivier Aubin-Mercier submitted Team Australia’s Richard Walsh, it’s up to me to finish the Canadian semi-final sweep against Australia’s Vik Grujic:

“There’s a ton of pressure at this point. There are three teammates through and then I’m left to fight Vik. The guy’s a devastating striker, a guy who if he gets the chance to touch you, he will finish the fight. There are no real holes in his game.”

While there is the country-versus country dynamic, this is still an individual sport:

“I always put the most amount of pressure on myself because I want the best result. I’ve worked hard for this … Not only is it the part of one Canadian not getting through, but at the same time too, the most important part, this is The Ultimate Fighter. This is the biggest fight of my life.”

This week’s semi-final was fun while it lasted:

“Rich came out, looked awesome. He had extremely long, sharp punches. Some of those kicks, of course his shin hurt afterwards. Of course Oli’s legs hurt afterwards. Those inside leg kicks were so hard.

“When Olivier, honestly, just shot the takedown. There was no second-guessing, no second thought. He just powered right through him. When it went to the ground, Olivier got his hooks in. It was one mistake. Olivier’s the type of guy to make you pay.”

Olivier, who is 4-0 as a pro, impressed me the first time we chatted during TUF tryouts, especially about him wanting a match against a tough veteran who would force him to be at his best:

“He said, ‘That’s the kind of fight I really need, a guy who has that experience.’ That’s the first thing he said to me. I was like, ‘OK, he wants to push himself in MMA.’ You could tell he wants to do big things. It wasn’t just about building his record up. It’s about getting that experience and fighting guys he can really gain something from. Then when I started training with him, he is very good.”

He’ll need to deal with the pressure that comes with being compared to fellow Quebec native Georges St-Pierre:

“It’s going to be something that’s going to be a large part of his career because on the show, they’ve already started that comparison. People are going to continue to compare him to Georges. At the same time, where Georges was extremely gifted in certain areas, maybe Oli isn’t as gifted in those areas. But where Oli’s gifted, maybe Georges isn’t. As long as he’s not feeling that pressure – ‘I have to do what Georges did, Georges did this, I have to do this.’

“Also, he doesn’t have to be Georges. There was already one Georges St-Pierre.”

“I don’t think there’s anything more manly than throwing an axe 20 feet, shooting a crossbow 150 feet and then sawing a log of wood.

“After the (axe throwing) event, we’re like, ‘We got this.’ Patrick used to be in the army. I think he did something to do with shooting in the army. When he missed (the crossbow) both times, and Noke hit it square in the centre, we’re like, ‘(Expletive).’ We had one event left. That $1,000 (bonus) to (the winning team’s members) is pretty important. Then you look at the coach, too, with $20,000. As soon as Cote won, and we were celebrating, the Australians again, their feelings were hurt.

“When one person from Team Canada wins, we all win.”

The barbecue after the coaches’ challenge was just the break we needed to push us through to the end of the competition:

“When that happened, we hadn’t had a day out in a long time. The thing is, when we first got there and got out of the vehicle, we could see all the meat being slow-cooked, the spit – oh my. The view – it was so nice. The way we were treated there, they treated us like we were family. For us, we’re stuck in a house, cooking all our own meals. I don’t mind cooking my own meals but once in a while when you get something cooked for you that’s really, really, really good, you’re just like … It was fantastic.”